futuramafandomcom-20200222-history
A Tale of Two Santas
|image = |episode = 3 |prod_code = 3ACV03 |season = 3 |airdate = December 16, 2001 |runtime = 30 minutes |director = Ron Hughart |writer = Bill Odenkirk |guests = Coolio as Kwanzaabot |subtitle = This episode performed entirely by sock puppets |cartoon = Box Car Blues |preceded_by = Parasites Lost |followed_by = The Luck of the Fryrish }} Plot It's Xmas time again and the Planet Express crew has just finished getting ready for Robot Santa Claus by covering the whole building in metal shielding. Relieved that all they have to do is stay inside, everyone starts to relax. The Professor then informs Fry, Leela, and Bender, of some "good news", they have been hired to deliver letters directly to Santa's base on Neptune. Reading the sad letters, Leela decides that it's her, Fry, and Bender's job to stop Santa once and for all. Arriving on Neptune they meet the Robot Santa's Elves who are actually Neptunians, they're "just small because Santa doesn’t feed" them. Leela decides to have them help in the plan. Delivering the letters to Santa, the Neptunians flee and Fry, Leela, and Bender jump out of the sack of letters. Leela attempts to destroy Santa with a logical paradox which should cause him to overload. Leela states to Santa that he is programmed to punish/kill the naughty, but that in turn makes him naughty and thus he must destroy himself. Faced with the paradox Santa's head explodes. Unfortunately, another head pops up and Santa tells them "Nice try but my head was built with Paradox absorbing crumple zones!", with that he pulls a bazooka on them and Fry, Leela, and Bender run for their lives. Getting on their ship, the crew tries to take off but find that Santa is holding them down. Luckily, the heat from the rockets causes the ice around Santa to melt and he's frozen in place. The Neptunians celebrate and start making toys again, however Xmas is now left without a Santa and Bender is dubbed the new Santa. Arriving on Earth "Santa" tries to give out gifts but fails and people mistake him for the evil Robot Santa. He eventually gives up and dumps the toys in a sewer. He gets caught and is taken to court for crimes against humanity. Despite their best efforts Bender is found guilty and sentenced to be executed by being torn apart by giant magnets. Desperate, Fry and Leela decide to return to Neptune to retrieve Santa, who is still trapped in the block of ice to prove that Bender isn't the real Santa. After cutting him out of the ice, though still frozen in a block of it, Leela realizes that the pollution from the toy factory has caused a "Green House Effect" and raised the heat causing the ice to melt. Santa breaks free and chases Fry and Leela back onto the ship. With the previous one having failed, Leela decides that they need a new plan and they fly back to Earth. Though unknown to them Santa has hitched a ride on the ship, and is now headed to Earth with them. At Bender's execution the Planet Express crew all dress up as Santa to save Bender, apart from Zoidberg who is dressed as Jesus. They fail and Bender starts being torn apart, while singing folk songs due to the magnet's effect on his circuit. Suddenly the real Robot Santa breaks in and saves Bender, Santa asks Bender for his help to "save"(ruin) Xmas. Fry warns him not to do it saying "No, don't do it, he's evil!", to which the real Santa replies "I know he is but I have no choice". Santa frees Bender and they both go on an evil rampage. Back at Planet Express everyone is huddled together in fear. Leela complains that despite everything they did, Xmas ended up just as terrible as ever. They have no heat or power, and are all huddled together in fear. Fry realizes "the true meaning of X-Mas", all their fear of Santa brings them together, and though it be huddled in the dark, scared, and cold, that's the true meaning of Xmas. Meanwhile, after thoroughly destroying the city and ruining Xmas, Santa gives Bender a present as thanks, though Bender is confused when the box is empty. Santa says, "I think the message is pretty clear... Play Santa again, and I'll kill you next year!". Santa viciously kicks Bender out of his sleigh in mid-air. Quotes *'Robot #1': Santa, when you see the Robot Devil tell him I'm a-comin'! :Bender: Hey that guy said- :Robot Devil: I heard him! ---- *'Bender': Isn't it true you have been paid for your testimony? :Pramala: Yes, you gave me a dollar and some candy. :Bender: And yet you haven't said what I told you to say; how can any of us trust you? :Pramala: *Begins crying.* ---- *Mayor C. Randall Poopenmeyer: You people aren't Santa, you're not even robots. How dare you lie in front of Jesus! Trivia *The title for this episode is a pun on the title of "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. *The dogs guarding Santa's ice fortress bark "Jingle Bells" in the manner of the song attributed to the "Singing Dogs"; this effect commonly uses sampling, or an original recording of a bark, and then frequency modulating software to create separate notes. *Leela's logical paradox mirrors that which Captain James T. Kirk puts to the alternate "Mr. Spock" in The Original Series Star Trek episode, "Mirror, Mirror". *"Lucy" is the fastest speed of the factory conveyor belt, a reference to the I Love Lucy episode where Lucy works in a candy factory. *The phrase "Deactivated Robot Walking" refers to the death row phrase "Dead Man Walking" which has been dramatized in the Stephen King book "The Green Mile" as well as the book and film Dead Man Walking. *When the Planet Express crew all declare that they are Santa, it spoofs the famous "I'm Spartacus!" scene from the Stanley Kubrick film, Spartacus. *When Bender dumps the toys into the sewer, one of the boxes is labeled "Toys for Tots". *Bender sings the first two lines of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" as he is about to be executed. *Leela says, "This really Wangs Chung." It is a reference to the British new wave band Wang Chung. *The first family that Bender visits while dressed as Santa Claus is the same family that he kicks out of Elzar's Fine Cuisine in the episode Bender Gets Made Debut Appearances *Kwanzaabot *Judge Ron Whitey Category:Season Three